Carolina Hurricanes Downgraded to Tropical Storm

It is amazing what we have witnessed in a young hockey season.

With a little more than two months to go until the all-star break, the promising franchise known as the Carolina Hurricanes has succumbed to its rivals in stellar fashion and it shows with a disappointing 9-7-2 record.

There has to be some doubt in J.R.'s office as to whether or not at this point in the season, the moves they made in the offseason by dispatching Stillman to the Flordia Panthers and Cole to the Oilers were, in fact, smart ones to make.

There is also the problem of the strangely struggling Eric Staal, who has so far failed miserably to reclaim his performance that made him a part of the 05-06 Stanley cup franchise that became one of the most storied clubs in NHL history.

To have a former Hurricane in the form of Doug Weight take out a hapless Sutter for a while with a concussion doesn't help matters much either. While I am sure that I won't be the most popular guy in the RBC Center for having written such a harsh article, I think that what the team needs the most is a few speedsters to make up for a sorely obvious lack of offense.

There are a few qualified guys that come to mind. I'd love to see Stillman come back into the fold and I also would like to see Cole come back.

While Cole may be injury prone at least he provides some badly needed speed on offense.  My other choice in providing badly needed speed would be someone like an Afinogenov, or maybe a Kulemin.Maybe having a Peters wouldn't be a bad idea either.

The 'canes need to step it up a bit and get cracking on what needs to be fixed before the all-star break. Otherwise, in all likelihood, they'll be spending yet another season, out of the playoffs and not having a chance on returning the Stanley Cup to the triangle again until next season.